Talking to Strangers

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"'Don't talk to strangers' is the advice parents of all classes and races give to their children. Today that advice has evolved into a fundamental precept of civic education, reflecting interracial distrust, personal and political alienation, and a profound distrust of others. Danielle S. Allen takes this maxim back to Little Rock, rooting out the seeds of distrust to replace them with "a citizenship of political friendship." Returning to the landmark Brown v. Board of Education decision, Allen argues that we have yet to complete the transition to political friendship that this moment offered. By combining brief readings of philosophers and political theorists with personal reflections on race politics in Chicago, Allen proposes strikingly practical techniques of citizenship--tools that can help us become more trustworthy to others and overcome the fossilized distrust among us. According to Allen, the key concept that bridges citizenship and trust is sacrifice. She uncovers the ordinary, daily sacrifices citizens make to keep democracy working--and offers methods for recognizing and reciprocating those sacrifices."--Page 4 of cover